15032019-JTR-01.qxd 3/15/2019 1:24 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE DC BUBLANI LAUNCHES VOTER AWARENESS CAMPAIGN PAGE 2 Deputy Commissioner Vinay Bublani urges people to exercise their franchise on May 19 FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY INBRIEF CLOTH SHOP BURGLED Phagwara: A cloth shop was reportedly burgled in Satnampura near the Satnampura police station on Wednesday night. The owner of the shop, Anil Walia, told the police that the locks of the shutters were found broken in the morning. The miscreants decamped with valuable clothes worth about ~8 lakh. The police have registered a case in this regard. The CCTV cameras of the police station were found broken a few days ago. OC FARMERS HOLD DHARNA Phagwara: Vehicular traffic remained disrupted on the national high way here on Thursday as a large number of sugarcane growers staged a dharna near local sugar mills. They were protesting against the non-payment of the arrears of around ~53 crore by the local sugar mills. Farmer leaders Manjit Singh Rai and Satnam Singh Sahni threatened to launch a stir if the management of sugar mills did not pay their arrears soon. Jarnail Singh Wahid Advocate, MD, sugar mills, pacified the farmers and assured them to pay arrears of ~30 crore by March 26. OC YOUTH DIES OF DRUG OVERDOSE Sahnewal: A resident of Jhabewal village died of drug overdose near Majara village on Wednesday evening. The deceased, identified as Lovepreet Singh (32), of Jhabewal village, was found dead on the outskirts of Majara village. The dose injected by him was so heavy that he died on the spot. The police said syringes were recovered from the spot. OC FUEL PRICES PETROL ~72.91 DIESEL ~66.54 WHAT’S ON JALANDHAR CULTURAL SHOW:A cultural, dance and food event - United World Fest of 10 countries; CT Institutions; 11 am PAGE 3 WORLD SLEEP DAY: GET IT RIGHT, TIME TO SLEEP TIGHT SHRENU TO APPEAR IN EK BHRAM SARVA GUNN SAMPANN Gadgets have connected world like never before and made life easier. They have also eaten into quality of sleep. MAX 23°C | MIN 10°C | YESTERDAY MAX 21°C | MIN 12°C SUNSET FRIDAY 6:35 PM Shrenu Parikh, who was last seen in Star Plus’ show Ishqbaaaz, has been roped-in upcoming show. SUNRISE SATURDAY 6:37 AM Over 18K first-time voters in dist Lok Sabha polls 359 over 100 years old; oldest ones aged 119 and 118 Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 14 For the ensuing Lok Sabha polls, Jalandhar district has as many as 359 voters above the age of 100 while there are a total of 18,780 first-time voters in the age-group of 18-19 according to the present list. There are as many as seven voters of a similar age who find mention in the list. Their age is mentioned as 118 and the date of birth is common to all of them, i.e. December 31, 1899. The voters are from Jalandhar Central, Jalandhar North and Jalandhar Cantonment constituencies. The officials of the district administration said the assistant returning officers (AROs) were asked to verify the list of voters so that it could be found out that if the ones above the age of 100 who were listed here were there actually or not. Jeevan Dass (103) with his daughter-in-law at his residence in Arjan Nagar in Jalandhar. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH Less first-time females than males Of the 18,780 first-time voters, as many as 11,461 are males and 7,319 females. However, the officials said that on March 2 and 3, awareness campaigns were carried out to prompt youngster to get their voter RESIGNATION OF CONG COUNCILLOR Sehgal will have to answer in three days, says Mayor ❝ Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 14 Mayor Jagdish Raja today said senior Congress leaders have asked Congress Councillor Rohan Sehgal to first give reply to the notice that has been sent to him after he claimed to have resigned from his post two days ago. Raja said senior Congress leaders have said Rohan first answer to the notice in three days, then only decision would be taken. As per the information, Sehgal was sent the notice by the party that he must have talked to a senior leader, either MLAs or MPs, before taking up the matter with the media. Raja said every councillor of the district was suffering from the same problem that Rohan raised, but he should have talked regarding it instead of taking this step. Senior Congress leaders have asked councillor Rohan Sehgal to first reply to the notice that has been sent to him after he claimed to have resigned from his post two days ago. He must have talked to a senior leader before taking up the matter with the media. ❞ Jagdish Raja, MAYOR, JALANDHAR ISSUES RAISED BY ROHAN SEHGAL ■ Congress councillor Rohan Sehgal had been raising several issues. Several times in the past, he had said there were 18 localities in his ward, but there were only 13 sanitation workers, due to which they face many issues. ■ He raised the matter of LED lights scam. Under the LED lights project, worth Rs 274 crore, 65,000 old sodium street lights were to be replaced with the LED lights. ■ The councillor had alleged that the company had been installing substandard lights at double the rate as compared to the infrastructure installed in Ludhiana. Big catch IDs made, so it was expected that the figure would rise in the coming days. Also, presiding over a meeting with the representatives of radio channels and cable service providers here today at his office, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Sharma, accompanied by Additional Deputy Commissioner Jasbir Singh, said the media, especially the audio-video, has made a deep impact on the psyche of youngsters. Sharma said the audiovideo media must contribute towards this cause by ensuring adequate mention of the vote making process in the broadcasts so that the youngsters could avail the opportunity of casting their votes. Apply till April 19, DC asks youngsters The Deputy Commissioner said the youngsters could apply for getting listed as a voter before the polls, adding that they must be encouraged to use this opportunity for strengthening democracy at the grassroots level. The Deputy Commissioner said the youth must be informed that they could register them as voters through a single click on their computer or mobile, from home itself. Sharma said to facilitate the youth, the Election Commission of India has launched the National Voter Services Portal (NVSP) and Voter Helpline App. He said the youth have to click the link www.nvsp.in to register as new voters. Likewise, Sharma said the youth could also download the voter helpline app from Google Playstore in their android phone for enrolling as voters. FRIDAY | 15 MARCH 2019 | JALANDHAR Jet Airways fined for missing luggage, articles Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, March 14 In a more than year old case of a missing bag during a flight from Canada to Delhi, the District Consumer Redressal Forum has directed the Jet Airways to pay Rs 35,000 as the cost of missing articles and damaged suitcase to the complainant. A bench of the Forum comprising its president, Karnail Singh and member Raj Singh, further directed Jet Airways to pay compensation for causing mental agony and harassment to the complainant to the tune of Rs 20,000 and also the cost of litigation amounting to Rs 5,000. The above amount should be paid to the complainant within 30 days from the date of receipt of the copy of the order, failing which Jet Airways will be liable to pay 9 per cent per annum interest from the date of filing of the complaint on February 13, 2018 till its realisation. In the complaint, it was alleged that the ticket had been purchased for travelling from Vancouver to Toronto and Toronto to New Delhi, vide flight number 9-W-233 on December 17, 2017. The luggage constituted of two suitcases. The flight reached Delhi on December 18, 2017 at midnight but the complainant was astonished to see that out of two suitcases, only one suitcase had reached Delhi. Airways officials said as and when the missing luggage will be located, it will be sent to the complainant at Hoshiarpur. The forum ordered that the complainant was entitled to the relief claimed. Accordingly, the complaint was partly accepted and compensation ordered. Arms holders told to surrender weapons Makkar-Walia spat comes out in open ahead of meet Amritsar, March 14 With the imposition of Model Code of Conduct following the announcement of parliamentary polls slated for May 19 in Punjab, the police officials today asked the licensed weapon holders to deposit their arms and ammunition. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Bhupinder Singh said in case any licence holder failed to deposit the arms, their licenses would be cancelled and appropriate action taken against them. He said the weapon holders could deposit the same with the police station concerned of their area or with registered gun houses as soon as possible. According to information available, there are around 30,000 licensed weapon holders in the holy city, including the rural belt, while the number of weapons is much higher. Amritsar rural police have also passed instructions to the respective police stations for depositing the arms with the police or the gun houses. TNS Workers’ meet for Jalandhar Cantonment postponed Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 14 The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today had to cancel its March 16 workers’ meet for Jalandhar Cantonment Assembly segment after a nasty fight between its two leaders from the area – exMLA Sarabjit Makkar and HS Walia. Notably, it is for the second time that a meet for the Assembly segment has been cancelled. Walia, along with other party leaders, including ex-Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Bhatia, ex-chairman Jalandhar Improvement Trust, Baljit Singh Neelamahal, Hans Raj Rana and Amarjit Thind had reportedly gone to Bath Castle, a marriage palace, the venue of the meet, to make arrangements. While they were engaged in talks with the staff at Bath Castle, Makkar too arrived and reportedly objected to Walia’s interference in the programme. HS Walia Sarabjit Singh Makkar At this, Walia reportedly told Makkar that he had been told to take charge by party chief Sukhbir Badal at a meeting in Chandigarh yesterday. At this, Makkar reportedly got enraged, got involved in manhandling and the pitch of their arguments rose high. Makkar even allegedly told Walia not to enter his fief. He, however, denied that any such incident took place and rebutted allegations against him. “Nothing untoward happened at the venue today,” he maintained. After the marriage palace staff intervened, the Akali leaders supporting Walia came out. They called SAD district president Kulwant Singh Manan to the spot and took him along to Chandigarh for a meeting with Sukhbir Badal. In Chandigarh, Walia, Manan and Neelamahal met Sukhbir Badal in the presence of ex-ministers Bikram Majithia and Daljeet Singh Cheema. In the evening, the workers’ meet was announced that it had been postponed. Cheema, when contacted, said, “The leaders came to us with issues Continued on page 2 Poor state of roads might affect health: PPCB report Ajay Joshi Tribune News Service Jalandhar SSP Navjot Mahal addresses mediapersons after the police nabbed six accused and recovered four pistols with nine live cartridges from their possession during a nakabandi in view of the 2019 General Election. TRIBUNE PHOTO:MALKIAT SINGH PAGE 4 Jalandhar, March 14 Referring to the poor condition of roads in the city, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) report says that the stretches nowadays have become unhealthy for health-sensitive people. Owing to the scattered dust, people with diseases of the lung and heart could suffer from discomfort in breathing. Further, the Air Quality Index (AQI), which was recorded at 125 and 124 on Wednesday and Thursday, had risen to 150 points last Friday. The unseasonal rains have undoubtedly exposed the miserable condition of the roads as the poor quality concrete, used to fill potholes and pits, has come off. However, the same concrete mixed with sand has again been applied for the patchwork which has further resulted in the condition taking a turn for the worse. Arun Kakkar, District Environment Engi- c m y b The unseasonal rains have exposed the miserable condition of the roads as the poor quality concrete has come off. PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH neer, said the city roads are in a poor state these days and the pollution level is fluctuating due to the sand sprinkled on potholes. Moreover, to settle the problem, the PPCB officials have fixed a meeting with the Mayor on March 18. Most affected are the resi- dents commuting on the DAV-Maqsudan road, Cool Road and Transport Nagar road, among others. In fact, the concrete material is also lying scattered on the road leading to the Municipal Corporation (MC), making it difficult for the motorists to commute on the already damaged roads. Previously during the repair work, residents used to ask the contractors not to fill the depressions with sand, but ignoring their plea, poor quality concrete was used to fill potholes, which is now dispersed on the roads. Numerous potholes have emerged on several roads of the city after the rain, making it from bad to worse. Aman Dhali, a local resident, even took to social media, asking the MC authorities about when the condition of roads would improve in the city as everyday they feared mishaps taking place while commuting as the roads have turned into accident zones. According to the commuters, the contractors should be held responsible for the dilapidated state of the roads. Vehicles could lose balance and veer off course while moving on these damaged roads, they said expressing their apprehension. Patchwork in-charge, XEN, Rajneesh Dogra, said, “Bitumen, mixed with concrete material, used in the patchwork is a good-quality stuff to be applied on potholes. Next week onwards good quality concrete would be laid on the damaged parts of the roads.”

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